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Thursday, January 22, 2009

Working smart - harder than it looks

Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together. -Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

Yesterday only called for an hour bike ride. Hilly but most of the time spent in heart rate zone 1 / 2. In other words an easy workout just spinning along. NOT ENOUGH. So I did my entire workout plan and was done prior to the start of the work day. I still had my lunch hour to work out. As noted earlier I did the coliseum stadium stair run. This is some major intensity. It is a race against yourself as well as your cohorts. Tough workout so to speak. You have to 'bring it' and I'm good at bringing it. In fact, when I need to bring I just have to look outside. There it is sitting in the driveway. Tank full of gas and the engine doing that soft loping idle - just raring to go. In other words, when they say bring it - it is usually already brung.

Today's workout calls for a 45 minute swim and a 40 minute hill run. I like to swim at lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays because a group of experienced swimmers meet at that time. They are very encouraging and always offer helpful tips. It is improving my swim skills measurably.

So I got out of bed for the 40 minute hill run. Specifically it called for a zone 1 / 2 with 6 x 30 seconds hard hill charges. Quite a bit easier than the coliseum. I was glad that I had the extra 20 minutes and enjoyed my coffee in bed. Feeling good I got on the treadmill and programmed my benchmark settings - 40 minutes at MAX 8.5 MPH with MAX 12 slope. This would be harder than the run prescribed by the plan. I started out strong but remember, like the XFL, there is no downhill on the treadmill - only less up hill. The heart rate was staying low and steady and I was still feeling strong. When I got to the MAX 12 slope it was hard, just as it should be. The heart rate had been slowing climbing to right at LT level (about 174 beats per minute). The problem was that this level of exertion felt harder than it should. The problem was the the heart rate did not drop on the less up hill. The problem was that my legs were tired. The problem was that I was tired. So, being here before, I looked at the window. There was nothing in the driveway. I checked the street - still nothing. The hills said bring it but it was nowhere to be found. I called it a day at 20 minutes.

Maybe I should try to follow this training plan thing... Still looking forward to swimming at lunch.